It's amazing what a new look can do for a platform, isn't it? Back in January, we reported that CyanogenMod, the most popular third-party Android ROM, reached one million unique installs. Now, a little more than four months later, that number has doubled, according to CM's stat tracker. This is huge.

In the custom ROM world, there's one name that can't be denied or avoided: CyanogenMod. It's the reigning champ of all custom ROMs, and for good reason - it's amazing. The CM team is always finding ways to innovate and bring new features to stock Android, resurrect older devices, and remove manufacturer/carrier restraints from modern devices.

Apparently we're not the only ones who think so, either - CyanogenMod hit one million unique installs last night.

Just two short weeks after the Kindle Fire received its first dose of Android development goodness (read: root), the first full custom ROM has made its way to the device. The ROM is question is, of course, CyanogenMod 7, the most widely distributed custom ROM among Android devices.

Basically everything works, though there are a few glitches. The touchscreen was initially on the receiving end of one said glitch, as the alignment was off by 90 degrees.

Update: Steve Kondik (Cyanogen) himself verified via his Google+ page that TeamDouche was not involved in the project.

I guess you can finally buy a phone with something that resembles CM on it. Unfortunately, our team wasn't involved in this.

Under normal circumstances, I find unboxing videos to be pointless and boring. However, this isn't what I would call normal circumstances. A beta tester for the new Republic Wireless service received her phone yesterday and decided to do an unboxing for all to see.

Dear Android Custom ROM developers: I love most of you. Really. You're part of what makes Android so awesome, because you're so enthusiastic about it, and about making it better. Because of you, we have awesome things like CyanogenMod.

I want to give you some numbers. Let's just look at some popular Android devices:

Just six days after The CyanogenMod (CM) team released the first alpha build for the TouchPad, they're back with alpha 2. Despite being bumped up a version, it's still an alpha, meaning there are many things that can (and likely will) go wrong. Still, it looks like they've made quite a few improvements with the update:

Changelog: (AKA things we hope we fixed)

* Plugging headphones in should now shut off speaker volume * Battery drain issues have been (partially) addressed * More apps now available in market (thanks to Flemmard) * Temporarily removed suspect fsck_msdos to fix random folder deletion on media/sdcard.

At the beginning of August, the CM team announced that they would be supporting the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, arc, and neo. Cyanogen himself has now announced via Google+ that they have joined together with the FreeXperia Team to bring CM7 to seven other Xperia devices in future releases, totaling the number of supported Xperia devices to ten. The full list includes:

Xperia Arc

Xperia Neo

Xperia Mini

Xperia Mini Pro

Xperia Play

Xperia Ray

Xperia X10

Xperia X8

Xperia X10 Mini

Xperia X10 Mini Pro

There's no word on when this update will roll out, but we'll make sure to keep you posted.

The Motorola Backflip may be a slightly aged device, and not much news has come its way of late, but it seems that the time is finally here for Backflip users who have been patiently awaiting some CyanogenMod goodness. It's worth noting that CM has not yet released a stable build of CM7 for the Backflip, but the nightly updates should be able to hold ambitious users over until a stable release is available.

It has been a while since we've talked about anything new for the Desire S, but thanks to the Revolutionary unlock tool, this handset is getting its first taste of CyanogenMod. Nightlies for the device went live last night, joining the dozens of other handsets that have been missing over the last several weeks.

So, if you're ready to show your Desire S some CM7 lovin', head over to this link to grab the download, and don't forget to grab Gapps while you're at it.

The Android dev community has a well-deserved reputation for releasing new versions of ROMs at breakneck speeds, and they're not slowing down with the newest kid on the block, the Motorola DROID BIONIC. In fact, @cvpcs has already ported CyanogenMod 7 to the device, and though he isn't ready to release it just yet, he has put out a video to whet our appetites:

Of course, since this is the very first time the BIONIC has successfully booted into CM7, there are plenty of bugs, including:

No radio connectivity

No charging

Issues with battery reporting

No audio

No camera

Regardless, this is certainly a viable first chapter in the BIONIC's ROM development, and we look forward to the continuation of the saga.